A high resolution re-examination of vegetation and climate change in the Jarbidge Mountains of northeastern Nevada from 4000 to 2000 cal yr BP

The goal of this study is to reconstruct both regional and local paleoclimate within a region on the northern boundary of the vegetative and hydrologic Great Basin using pollen analysis from a site in the Jarbidge Mountains of northeastern Nevada. The results of this analysis are compared to sites within the Great Basin. With high resolution sampling at Mission Cross Bog, I found five dry periods between 4000 and 2000 cal yr BP; between 3600 and 3500, 3300 and 3100, 2750 and 2650, 2550 and 2450 and 2200 and 2000 cal yr BP. The two wettest periods of the last 4000 years were from 4000 to 3600 and from 3500 to 3300 cal yr BP. By sampling at close intervals in sediments with a high accumulation rate, one can identify both general patterns over longer periods and short duration events such as droughts. The sampling procedures used by palynologists greatly affect their interpretation of climate. Interpretations are affected by the years between samples, the specific depth of the first strata sampled, and the sedimentation rate of the site being studied. By comparing my data at resolutions of 50, 100 and 200 years, I found this to be true. Only two dry climatic events between 3300 and 3100 cal yr BP and 2500 and 2000 cal yr BP are evident at all resolutions.